AhlulBayt News Agency

source : AFP
Monday

15 June 2009

7:30:00 PM
156743

Trial of Shiite prisoners delayed in Yemen

The trial of 10 Shiite falsely accused of carry out perations of murder, bombings in the Yemeni capital Sanaa will resume on Sunday, two days later than expected, due to a clerical error, an official said on Saturday.

The trial of the group opened on April 12 and was adjourned by the judge until April 24.

The official said however that the judge had made a mistake with the date, thinking it would fall on a Sunday and not a Friday, which is a public holiday in the Muslim world.

The trial would now resume on Sunday, the official in the judge’s office said.

The group is accused of  carrying out “terrorist”  attacks and killing police officers in May 2008 on the outskirts of Sanaa.

The defendants denied the charges at the trial’s opening, and instead demanded that Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh be tried for destroying their homes and burning their fields.

According to the charges, “they were planning to carry out operations of murder, bombings and destruction.”

The prosecution urged the death sentence for all 10.

End item/109